By Dr Irene Christoforidi (Hellenic Mediterranean University)
Crete, the largest island of Greece, is facing significant environmental challenges. Once covered in dense forests, the island’s mountainous areas are today severely degraded due to overgrazing, fires, and soil erosion. However, with strategic restoration efforts, there is hope for revitalising these marginalised landscapes. Read more about the Asterousia range and the ancient village of Ethia to better understand local initiatives in Crete’s mountains.
Crete is not only the largest Greek island (8,450 km2), but also one of the most beautiful in the Mediterranean. It is renowned for its landscapes, cities, archeological sites, and rich cultural traditions, known for its palm forests, blue seas, and the famous Cretan diet mainly consisting of fruit, vegetables, wild plant species, dairy products, and fish. However, behind this image lies a significant environmental challenge: Crete’s mountainous areas are becoming increasingly marginalised due to a hazardous combination of human activities and natural degradation.
Challenges Facing the Mountainous Heart of Crete
Crete is an island with a strongly mountainous character – mountains cover 52% and plains only 3.6% – and is formed by six distinct mountain groups. Their peaks range from 1,231 mto 2,456 m, and include:
- Idi Range (Psiloritis) at 2,456 m
- White Mountains or Lefka Ori at 2,453 m
- Dikti Mountains at 2,148 m
- Kedros at 1,777 m
- Thrypti at 1,489 m
- Asterousia Mountains at 1,231 m
In the past, Crete’s mountains used to be blanketed with dense, mostly conifer forests. Because of this, its mountains were called “Idea”, i.e., wooded. Historically, wood from these forests played a crucial role in building the fleets of ancient civilizations, including the Phoenicians and Egyptians.
Today, these forests and their surrounding mountain communities are in peril. The degradation of Crete’s mountains is linked to land use activities such as overgrazing by growing flocks of sheep and goats, logging, and natural disturbances like droughts and wildfires.
These pressures have diminished the vegetation canopy, reducing the diversity and density of plant species, changing the species composition, and moreover limiting the supply of important ecosystem services. Soil is also negatively impacted by erosion, increased evaporation, and a decrease in organic matter leading to reduced fertility, with an inevitable and considerable impact on agricultural production and fodder provision. These developments are expected to be intensified by climate change and significantly affect both the primary sector and local communities. These changes will equally affect mountain social-ecological systems, influencing communities’ risk perception and responses to changing climate conditions.
The Case of Overgrazing in the Asterousia Range
One characteristic example of a marginalised mountain area in Crete is the Asterousia range, which lies in southern central Crete and constitutes the southern border of the Messara Basin. This mountain area is about 25 km long and 3 km wide, with elevations rising from 600 m in the west to 1200 m in the east. The Messara Valley climate is classified as dry to subhumid, with minimal rainfall during the long and hot Mediterranean summer.
The main land use of the Asterousia range consists in the free grazing of sheep and goats. The vegetation is characterised by typical Mediterranean evergreen maquis or phrygana shrublands, which are common in most of the island’s hilly or mountainous areas. Overgrazing pressure has, however, shaped the area’s vegetation composition and density, and is considered the main driver of the region’s biodiversity loss and soil degradation. Statistical figures for some of the region’s mountainous communities show an increase in the total number of sheep and goats held by more than 200% between 1980 and 1990. As a result, widespread soil erosion has accelerated land degradation.
Regenerating the Marginalised Mountain Village of Ethia
These mountains are home to traditional villages like Ethia, perched at an altitude of 740 m and located between five mountain peaks. The name Ethia (i.e., Itea, Itia – “Willow”) is of botanical origin. Legends tell of a large tree with expansive branches that offered its shade to locals and passerby, and feasts that were held under its foliage.
Today, you won’t find traces of this legendary spot and, until the late 1960s, of any other tree. During this time, the historical village (with 46 residents in 1583 and more than 400 in 1940), was almost abandoned.
In the 1990s, Ethia’s remaining residents and former villagers gathered to regenerate their marginalised home by establishing a redevelopment association. Villagers started to afforestrate (meaning they grew a new forest in an area) their private abandoned land around the village with mostly pines, cypresses, oaks, and almond trees.
This was a direct response to the village’s increasing land degradation and included controlled grazing and grazing exclusion in the most degraded areas. Carob, fruit trees, and olive trees were also planted in a few degraded areas near the village.
Today, when taking the uphill road that climbs the bare stone mountain above the city of Rotasi, the eye first falls on the young green pines that change the landscape abruptly at the entrance of Ethia. Thanks to the villagers’ afforestation action, the village has since become a green oasis on the treeless ridge of the Asterousia range.
New prospects for business development were also created, such as agritourism and accommodations in the abandoned stone houses, cultural events, activities for local and foreign visitors, and organised excursions into the forest. The number of residents has since increased as well (27 permanent residents, census year 2021), and fluctuates depending on weekends, celebrations, or holiday periods.
Today, Ethia has regrown as one of the most beautiful traditional villages in Crete. It is worth taking a stroll through its alleys and admiring the traditional architecture. Braver visitors might cross the Ethia Gorge, or walk on the path that connects Ethia and Ahendria.
For more insights into the mountainous areas of Crete, watch the first edition of the MARGISTAR Summit Series with Dr Irene Christoforidi here.
